Nation-wide injury prevention programme a must : Experts – ET HealthWorld

The initiative was organized by The Spinal Cord Society, Indian Orthopaedic Association (IOA), Association of Spine Surgeons of India (ASSI), Indian Spinal Injuries Centre (ISIC), Indian Association of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (IAPMR), Indian Head Injury Foundation (IHIF, Spinal Cord Society), Chandigarh Spinal Rehab , The Association of People with Disability, The Spinal Foundation, KARA Medical Foundation, Spine Wellness and Care Foundation, Be Brave and Nina Foundation under the aegis of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW).

The week-long programme was launched in New Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkata, Cuttack, Pune, Lucknow, Hyderabad, Patna, and Bhopal with the aim of building awareness about injury prevention through education, research, and advocacy.

Participating in the programme experts informed that road injuries are one of the top four causes of death and health loss among Indians aged between 15 years and 49 years, called for making injuries a notified disease like TB and HIV/AIDS to enable close monitoring.

As per Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), the number of people killed due to over-speeding has increased from 58,000 in 2014 to 98,000 in 2018 whereas the number of people killed due to drunken driving has dropped from 7,000 to 4,200 during the same period. The data highlights that between the speed of 50 km/hr and 80 km/hr, the chances of death in case of a crash increases from 20 percent to 60 percent.

Experts also observed that ‘National Injury Prevention and Control Programme’ with an integrated multi-sectoral approach at Centre and State levels, appointment of a nodal agency with appropriate authority and budget, and strengthening of the National Injury Surveillance System (NISS) in a phased manner, starting with mandatory data collection from all hospitalized injuries like other notifiable diseases is crucial.

Talking about the initiatives taken by the central government, Dr. Manas Pratim Roy, Assistant Director General, DGHS, MoHFW, said, “National Injury Surveillance, Trauma Registry and Capacity Building Centre (NISC) has been established in the country. The government is working continuously to strengthen the system for ensuring prevention & management of injuries across the country.”

“Road crashes and falls are among the top reasons of injury in India – road accidents are the eighth leading cause of death in all age groups, surpassing TB, HIV/AIDS or diarrheal diseases. Injury prevention is important to maintain the quality of life and prevent out-of-pocket expenditure for healthcare. Injury prevention programs yield tremendous results: investing USD 10 per person in prevention programs can help us save nearly USD 3 billion in health care costs in two years,” said Dr H S Chhabra, president, Spinal Cord Society, Immediate Past President ISCoS and ASSI, Medical Director Cum Chief of Spine Services, Indian Spinal Injuries Centre, New Delhi.

Experts also added that the success of the injury prevention program lies in resourcing and enforcement of legislation in combination with education, training and capacity building, they recommended the authorities to strengthen pre-hospital and emergency care, prioritize the vulnerable population in every sector and include injury prevention and management in the curriculum of all relevant educational programs at various levels.